Secret service: homeland security
Secret service" Part 1: homeland security The complete file on the secret service is divided into three parts : the second part, 'Bold text'in the next newsletter, will discuss the activities of the secret service in their foreign networks; the third part discusses their anti-terrorism activities. -Worldwide database The secret service of each country is organized as a function of its budget and specific features (e.g. the number of communication bases and the number of spy satellites). -Budget -Staff The player can train new agents that can then be assigned to his territory, or to his foreign networks. The number of agents on the territory is included in several spy calculations which will be discussed later. -Budgeting The player can allocate and distribute his budget to several budget items: agent training, the fight against terrorism, cryptography and IT, and political, military, and industrial espionage. Each budget item plays a unique role: we will come back to this in the following chapters, as well as in the second part of the dossier in the next newsletter, which will deal with external secret service agents. -Actions -Investigate a public figure . How it works The player can launch an investigation on any public figure in the country. The public figure is then put under surveillance: the player can consult his file at any given moment; this includes a list of intelligence information that is dynamically updated. For example, if the person being spied on begins to hate the player-President, this will appear in his file. If the player decides to end an investigation, the dossier of the concerned person will stored in the archives but will no longer be updated. The number of investigations is limited and is a function of the number of agents in the territory : to be able to hold more surveys, new agents must be trained. The duration of the surveillance is a function of the magnitude of the budget item Cryptography and information technology, of the degree of dictatorship, and of the modernism of the country. . Risks There is no guarantee for the success of an investigation: the person spied on can be relatively cautious and thwart any approach, or even make a scene that can turn against the player. This calculated success takes into account the level of protection of the public figure spied on, the importance of the budget items Agent training, Cryptography, and Political espionage, as well as the level of dictatorship in the country. The levels of protection are a function of the characters and the duties of the public figures. For the most part, these levels are relatively intuitive. For example, an army chief will be better protected than a classical dancer. . Interest The information obtained on a public figure under surveillance consist of the following : political leanings, interest for politics, sympathies regarding the player, character (such as charisma and honesty), and possibly experience, morale, health problems, and past condemnable acts. The following provides an interpretation of these different elements: * Political tendencies and sympathies regarding the player: The combination of these two elements determine if the public figure will vote in favor of the player or not in the upcoming elections; * Interest in politics: This is also a function of popularity, it allows one to measure the political influence of the public figure, especially during election time; * Character: This is one of the elements included in the calculation of the popularity of a personality. With this information, the player can plan (or not) different tactics (such as corruption and flattery). * Experience: This is also a key element in calculating the popularity of the head of the group, particularly of the head of a political party. This experience increases with passing time. The player could have an interest in finding a way to rid himself of an overly influential or popular public figure, and replace him by someone younger and less experienced, or less charismatic. * Morale and health: These constitute important pieces of information, particularly for government members. The player can try to raise their spirits, or pre-empt or force their retirement * Condemnable acts: This is undoubtedly the most important piece of information. If the player manages to obtain this kind of information, he has the means to blackmail or cause the downfall of the concerned public figure. -Break into the headquarters of a political party . How it works The player can only launch one robbery operation at a time : Thenceforth the line of action can not be activated, and a small hourglass appears. The secret service chief informs the player of the progress of the operation. The operation usually takes place within ten days. . Risks Like Watergate, the robbery can be a fiasco and turn against the player if it is publicly revealed. The calculation for success incorporates different variables: the level of protection of the party chief, the power and the authoritarianism of the party, the size of the budget items Agent training and Political espionage. In order to offer a bit of protection for himself, the player can always spy on the party chief in order to approximate his level of protection, or fix a meeting with the party members to see if there is any information to pick up… . Interest The objective is to unearth a scandal on the party in order to reveal it and hurt its electorate. -Publicly reveal a scandal This action sets off a revelation scenario that can spark off a process sooner and later, as well as the conviction of the accused public figure. For political parties, this would hurt their popularity ratings. -Assassinate a public figure . How it works The secret service chief informs the player of the progress of the operation. The operation usually takes places within 15 days. . Risks This is a high-risk operation : If it fails and is discovered, a major scandal would break out. Unless the player enjoys very high popularity, he will have little chance of pulling through. The calculation of success takes into account the level of protection of the public figure targeted, the size of the budget line Agent training, and the date of the last assassination attempt. Thus the more assassinations the player orchestrates, the more he risks failing. . Interest Getting rid of a rival or an enemy that is too powerful or popular so that he can be replaced by a less influent public figure. -Counter-espionage Just like foreign spy networks (which will be the subject of the next newsletter), counter-espionage services also “stock” Energy as time goes on, and are a function of Power. The calculation of this Power includes the number of agents in the country and the importance of the budget lines Agent training and Counter-espionage. Above a certain level of accumulated Energy, counter-espionage decides to attempt a dismantlement operation on a network implanted on national territory. The choice of this network favors those who are most developed. The calculation of the success of the dismantlement compares the two spy forces present, estimated in the following way : the strength of the foreign spy network is based on the importance of its budget items Agent training, Cryptography, and Military, Political, and Industrial espionage; the strength of the counter-espionage network is based on the number of national agents, on the number of espion agents of the other country, and on the budget lines Agent training and Cryptography.